Quebec students protest austerity, call for financial aid reform on Day 1 of week-long strike

Tens of thousands of CEGEP and university students across Quebec are going on strike for the week. I'm currently at a protest near UQAM in Montreal where students are asking for financial aid reform and calling on the Quebec government to invest more in education. In response, many teachers have cancelled their classes to show support. We came here because we need to address the precarity of the students and also austerity measures that took place for 40 years now. Education is falling apart. We need to make that a priority again And the government, the Parti Québécois, they are... We are planning to cut in the education system and I think we need to address that. We're not asking for a lot, we're just asking for the bare minimum to have access to real education, quality of education. I believe that students deserve better and that the government is not doing enough right now. My main cause is obviously getting paid for my internship. Cool. It is costly and it would really help to be able to access school from afar and be able maybe to have a place here and pay the school and a place to live nearby and not spend four hours in commute each day. There's no more nurses at Saint Laurent, there's no more program for the immigrants that want to learn French. There are a lot of teachers in language programs and other programs that are fired because there's just no more money. It's normal to be angry. It's normal to want to ask for a better way of living, a better way to learn. Go in the streets. Don't be afraid. Just fight for your rights. At the end of November, students will be asked to vote on whether to call for an unlimited general strike during the winter semester.